Statement from Co-operative Energy on Increase in Electricity Prices From 27 May 2014

Posted on 26 April 2014

Leading energy provider, Co-operative Energy, has announced it is to increase its electricity prices to all customers on the Pioneer Variable 5.1 tariff. The price change will take effect from 27 May 2014. The current Pioneer Variable 5.1 tariff will be replaced by Pioneer Variable 5.2 as of this date. There will be no increase on customers’ gas charges.

The increase, which equates to an extra £2.21 per month for the average electricity customer, is due to the need to finally pass on energy industry regulated costs including Energy Company Obligation (ECO), Renewable Energy and Feed-In Tariffs as well as increases in distribution and transmission costs.

In our press release dated 13 November 2013 about the October price change, we made a clear statement that we would absorb the burden of the increase of costs placed on us through the winter months and that we would have no alternative but to review this decision if we have misread the signals. Whilst some costs have been removed we are still experiencing a number of increases that came into play from the start of the year and from the 1 April. Therefore, we have had to take the difficult decision to increase our prices in line with this.

Ramsay Dunning, Group General Manager, explained: “At Co-operative Energy we are committed to being fair, transparent and open with our customers and we ensure that our prices remain cost reflective at the time when the costs are incurred.

“We pledged to offer fair pricing and even after this increase we will still be competitively priced against the Big Six’s standard tariffs. We are not increasing prices to reward financial investors. We are simply no longer able to absorb these government-imposed costs.”

Co-operative Energy is unique in the energy sector. Customers can choose to become a Midcounties Co-operative member. In doing so they will get membership points for every pound spent on energy and for every meter reading they provide, which in turn entitles them to half yearly dividends. This year the Midcounties Co-operative made over £6m in share-of-profit payments to its members.

Co-operative Energy is part of The Midcounties Co-operative, the largest independent co-operative in the UK, owned by over half a million members. Co-operative Energy is a national business, covering the whole of England, Wales and Scotland.

It’s hard to have missed the number of stories in the media recently about smaller energy firms going bust. One of the reasons why these firms have struggled recently is due to the sharp increases that we have seen in the costs of gas and electricity in the past year.